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Chapter Text

Having grown up in a rather poor environment, with only her dad and her seemingly forbidden desire to pursue music, Musa never expected to end up the way she did.

Guardian fairy. Fairy of Music. It was an extremely well-paid profession, actually. Musa handled her money well too, as the results of having had to be financially careful in the past.

Alongside the riches, there also came fame. It was only natural. The people of the magic dimension all knew about the six faires, whom had saved their lives multiple times.

They often received gifts of gratitude, invitations to fancy gallas and countless offers from big brands, companies and such.

Musa couldn’t even recount all the times famous record labels offered her huge deals. She declined each time, however, as a fairy’s job is never really over. She didn’t want to feel too restricted.

This of course, didn’t stop her from pursuing music in a less extreme way, by occasionally performing at small concerts, writing songs in her room all day, and showcasing her musical abilities through battle.

While originally having dreamt of singing in theatres, as her mother had done, Musa felt satisfied by the way things had turned out now. After all, she could still sing in theatres in the future, when she was older.

There was a striking contrast between her current life, compared to the old one she had, it felt surreal. She was rich, famous and had her loved ones all around her. She couldn’t be more happy.

However, she could be more happy. Because she wasn’t happy. No, Musa was upset.

Musa was upset, because right now, she was the target of the merciless wrath of the media.

Now all of the Winx were celebrities, despite their initial intent having been to just save people. While some may argue it was a nice bonus, Musa felt a bit suffocated. Fame came with being under absolutely everyone’s radar, of course. They all watched, waiting for a single wrong move.

Just about a week ago, Musa made that wrong move.
The Winx were chasing a thief, who had stolen an ancient artifact from the museum in Magix. Now this wasn’t their first encounter with this thief, as he’d been stealing from all over the planet for the last two months. They didn’t know his identity, only that he wielded powerful magic and used it for no good.

Just as they had the mystery thief cornered, with no way out, Musa zoned out. That didn’t go unnoticed by the enemy. Lost in deep thought, Musa didn’t notice the thief running right past her, over a wall and away from Magix City.

When Musa came back to her senses, she was presented with an angry crowd of civilians, and her friends upset about the thief escaping once again. This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened in the past two months, and the public took extreme note of that.

Now the other Winx had reassured her that they weren’t angry at her and that mistakes happen, but the rest of the world looked at it differently.

With footage of the events circling around the media, Musa was labeled as “a traitor”, “a lazy fairy”, “unfit for her job” and countless other negative titles.

She also couldn’t help but notice the dirty looks and whispers she was given in public, and even in the halls of Alfea.

Now, Musa absolutely felt bad about accidentally letting the thief escape, but did not appreciate the extreme and unnecessary hate she was getting. And only after three days.

But what could she do? She knew the best thing to do about the situation was to wait and hope for it to cool down. In the meantime, she had settled on staying in her room as much as possible. She kept thinking back on what happened.

How did this happen again? she wondered.

Her friends had told her that she’d been zoning out a lot lately, which was confirmed by the recent failure.

Now constantly replaying everything in her head, she started feeling tired. She was very tired.

The consequences of being famous. “-usa.” One wrong move could easily ruin peoples’ image of you, which really sucked. “-usa!”

Suddenly, she felt a weird sensation on her shoulder, shaking her. Had she always had that shoulder? Right before that moment, she could’ve sworn she was her mind and only her mind.

She felt the rest of her body again. As Musa snapped back to reality, she was met with Stella’s slightly irritated face.

Did her mind drift off again?

“Jeez, girl. You have to get out of your head. Is this about ‘the incident’ again?”

Musa blinked, processing what her sun-powered friend said. Unsure of what to respond, the former settled on stuffing her pillow in her face, grumbling slightly.

“It’s no big deal. We all make mistakes sometimes. I know the media is harsh, but they’ll forget about in no-time,” Stella reassured her friend.

Musa put her pillow aside.
“Do you need something?”, she asked in an attempt to change the topic, careful not to sound too cold.

“Oh, right. Ms. Faragonda wants to speak to us as soon as possible, so stop impersonating a corpse and get your ass up,” the princess of Solaria half-joked.

Then Musa noticed her position. She did indeed somewhat resemble a corpse, lying completely still on her back with her hands by her sides and her legs straightened.

Stella grabbed her by the arm and yanked her up from the comfort of her bed, dragging her out of her room, all the way to Faragonda’s office.

“Girls, I’m glad you could come so fast. Apologies for pulling you away from what you were doing, but this just couldn’t wait,” their headmistress stated, with a worried look on her face.

“It’s no problem, Ms Faragonda. We’re always ready to help!” Bloom exclaimed as she looked around at the other Winx, who nodded in agreement.

“So… what’s going on?” Flora asked, eager to know what was so urgent.

Faragonda cleared her throat. “I have just received call from Goodwill Academy on Oppositus. Their headmaster, Mr Wixx, just informed me that they are operating an emergency evacuation. It seems that our mystery thief has expanded his range of targeted planets.”

The Winx gasped in concern, shortly followed by Stella scoffing.
“Ugh, that guy doesn’t let us have a break, does he? What exactly are his motives again?”

“We’re still not sure, and this case has made it even harder to figure out,” the headmistress admitted, to which the Winx shared a confused look.

“How so?” Aisha questioned.

“Unlike all the other cases, this was no robbery. The thief has actively been attacking both students and lectors at Goodwill. He reportedly hasn’t expressed any will to steal, just casualties. Infact, I believe there have been a few passings.”

The Winx gasped once again, this time even more concerned.

Tecna spoke. “But the mystery thief always intends to steal, as far as we know. He only does harm to people who get in his way. Are we sure it’s the same guy?”

“We can’t know for sure, but the attacker was identified by the same exact mask and robe the thief typically wears. Nevertheless, Goodwill Academy requires our help, your help.”

“We’ll do anything we can,” Flora commented.

“I know you will. I’ll be sending you, along with a group of other students to get to the bottom of this matter, and rescue Goodwill. Red Fountain will also help out,” the elderly fairy said.

“We won’t let Goodwill down,” Bloom assured.

And so, the Winx would go on yet another mission after the mystery thief, hoping to finally catch him this time.

The Winx had finally made it to Oppositus, alongside the Specialists and some of Alfea’s current star students.

The planet still had its unique charm, every corner you’d look at being completely opposite from the opposing one. One side of the globe was bright, charming and lively, with flowers blooming and birds singing. The opposite side looked dark and gloomy, but not in an off-putting way. Both sides were inhabited equally, existing in a harmonic equilibrium.

They were currently a few kilometres away from the college, having landed in Oppositus’ capital city, Stasis. They had agreed to meet up with Headmaster Wixx to discuss the situation.

“So… where is this guy? I thought we had an agreement,” Stella complained, looking around.

“Easy, Stell. He might just be late,” Bloom tried to calm her friend down.

A few more minutes of waiting, before they were approached by a tall, muscular man. His features were strong, and he would’ve looked a bit scary, if it wasn’t for his rather cute outfit. He was wearing light yellow overalls with a little smiling sun print on the pocket on his chest. Underneath was a soft blue t-shirt and he seemed to have a namecard which said “Headmaster Wixx” with a logo that said “GW”, probably for “Goodwill”.

So this was him, huh?

Despite being familiar with the way things work on Oppositus, the Winx were still a bit shocked at the extreme contrast. They would’ve chuckled a bit, if this wasn’t the highly-respected man that was about to tell them about an extremely dangerous situation.

“Ah, the Winx and acquaintances. I see you’ve arrived. Greetings.” His voice was soft, yet he spoke in a rather harsh tone, though not rudely. He took out his hand to shake each of theirs, as they all exchanged greetings and short introductions.

“Apologies for the sudden call. Oh, and also for my lack of proper attire. You see, we were all kind of in a rush and I haven’t had time to uh.. change,” he admitted, slightly embarrassed.

“Ah.. It’s no bother, Mr Wixx. Please, tell us how we can help,” Bloom assuaged him.

“Right. Well, you see. What happened was…” He proceeded to explain how his students spotted the widely-known mysery thief in the school.
He had ventured into the building and started harming and even slaughtering people out of the blue. A had passed away on the spot, others on the way to safety. Now as all remaining people had made it out more or less safely, the culprit was presumably still situated inside the building.

“How can you be sure he’s still inside?” Aisha asked.

“We have eyes positioned all around the building. Not one of them have reported sightings of him leaving, or even sightings of him at all.”

“My god…” Musa muttered under her breath.

“Since you’re some of the most powerful fairies, specialists and fairies-in-training known, I would like to request you to go into the school and catch him. Or at the very least make sure he is gone. I need this school back up-and-running as soon as possible, even despite these unfortunate events,” He pleaded.

Everyone was quiet for a few seconds, and he continued. “I know it might be a lot to ask, but I’m unsure of what else to do. We need him out of there and in jail!”

Bloom took a deep breath and spoke. “We’ll do whatever we can, Mr Wixx. You can trust us.”

“Yeah! Plus, we’ve faced worse, right? No problem at all!” Stella reassured.

The rest nodded in agreement.

“Thank you… Thank you so much.”

And so, they started making their way to Goodwill Academy.

Now on the way to their more exact destination, Goodwill Academy, Musa couldn’t help but notice some ugly glares she was getting from some of the fairies-in-training, who has accompanied them.

She even swore she could hear some of them whispering some nasty comments.

“Why did they even allow her here? She’s obviously going to mess up again.”

“She probably did it on purpose, y’know.”

Musa considered throwing a glare right back at them, maybe even confront them somehow, but decided against it. There were more important matters at hand, after all.

The group finally made it to Goodwill Academy, and they stood in front of the gate. At this point, they’d also transformed into their fairy forms. They immediately took note of how empty the place was. No people, no noise. Not a single sign of life. It had a bit of an eery vibe to it.

“How creepy…” Flora commented, as Helia walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, muttering a soft ‘yeah’.

The building itself was, just like the planet, split into two different ‘zones’. One side was bright and colorful, while the other was dark and monotone. The contrast was extremely apparent, yet the two sides seemed to still compliment each other in some majestic way. Anyone could immediately tell they were on Oppositus. There were two large, round-ish towers on the brighter side, while the darker side was adorned by two smaller and spiky-looking towers.

Besides that, the college was huge. Much bigger than they had anticipated. The entire campus could probably fit at least fifteen Alfeas.

“Holy shit, how big is this college?” Stella whisper-shouted to the others.

“Well, according to the MagicNet, Goodwill Academy is amongst the top 10 biggest colleges in the magic dimension, with about 10 thousand students enrolled, 56,8% of which actively live on campus,” Tecna remarked, as she looked at the statistics on her phone.

“Well damn,” Musa uttered.

Bloom walked to the front and turned around, putting on her leader-voice. “Let’s get to work, everyone! The culprit might still be in there, and people are counting on us.”

They all nodded, and soon, small groups were formed, as everyone spread out to look for any clues. Every group consisted of a Winx, a Specialist (boyfriend and girlfriend together, of course), and 4-5 students.

Using small in-ear communication devices Tecna and Timmy had put together, they could easily contact the other groups, should something happen.

Each assembly took out to explore different parts of the college. Musa, Riven and a few young fairies explored the classrooms and hallways near the dark, sharp-looking tower furthest right on the building.

The inside of the gloomy side of the college was ironically bright, with a light color scheme and a rather fancy theme going on. There were chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, old paintings on the walls and overall, everything seemed very neat. Of course, this opposition to the exterior was, once again, no surprise. Typical Oppositus.

They took their time opening doors and investigating every inch of the area they covered. Musa especially made sure to listen for any suspicious noises, but was only met with the hushed voices of Alfea fairies, talking about… her.

They never really seemed to realize that Musa could hear them. Every complaint, every rude remark. The musical fairy was getting frustrated.
At this point, she wasn’t even really thinking about her mistake from a few days ago. Just about all the shit that was thrown at her by the public.

She was irritated by the stupidity of the people around her, all just jumping to conclusions and making up fake rumors about her.

She and the other Winx already had so much going on, and this really wasn’t making things any better. Saving the world isn’t easy, y’know?

And yes, she understood the criticism she was getting. She was unprofessional, yes, and she already made a public apology. Yet, at this point, the hate was getting unnecessary, in her opinion.

The dark side of being famous: Toxic jerks just waiting for the right opportunity to destroy you.

The music fairy tried to shrug it off and continue searching. Riven was a few feet ahead of her, throwing his purple boomerang around for no apparent reason.

“Hey, Riv. Maybe stick to investigating rather than trying to murder the air? You might accidentally cause damage to the school,” Musa commented.

Riven scoffed. “You really think I’d mess up like that? It’s like you don’t even know me. And for the record, I am multi-tasking. Investigating while training. Try to keep up, Muse.” Musa scowled slightly at his reply.

For some more context, Riven, being the asshole he usually is, was still way too obsessed with his stupid boomerang. And he still kept forgetting he had a girlfriend. Musa eventually got tired of trying to get his attention, and decided to just not care as much. But of course, being Musa, she still cared a lot.

“If you say so.”

About an hour of searching had passed, and still no clue as to where the mystery culprit was.

“He can’t just have vanished, right?! What would be the point in showing up in the first place?”

“I’m not sure, but we should definitely keep looking. Any clues, anyone?”

“Nothing here.”

“Nope.”

Musa was currently listening to her friends talking over the communication device. This case was very strange indeed. A guy who looked exactly like the mystery thief showing up, harming a few students, then vanishing into thin air? Something wasn’t right.

“Hey, didn’t both Ms Faragonda and Mr Wixx mention something about a few people having been… y’know. I know we haven’t seen any. Have any of you?” spoke a voice Musa identified as Flora’s.

“We haven’t seen any either,” the former expressed.

The rest admitted they hadn’t seen any corpses either. This situation was getting stranger and stranger.

“Maybe the other students or teachers took them out while they were evacuating?” Bloom suggested.

“Hmm, I doubt it. They were in a rush to evacuate, after all. They wouldn’t have had enough time,” Tecna said.

They continued searching for clues.

“Hey, are we almost done here? I’m getting tired.”

“Me too…”

Two of the students spoke, complaining about how long this was taking, while the others nodded in agreement.

“I’m afraid we’re not done just yet. We haven’t found a single clue,” Musa responded, earning a few groans and sighs from the students.

Riven was pretty far away from Musa and the rest of the group, although still in sight, and seemingly still messing with his weapon. With Riven’s half-absence, the students took this as an opportunity to question their “suspicious” senior.

“Don’t you feel ashamed?” one of them questioned.

Musa looked up from where she was investigating.

“What?”

“I mean, about the so-called ‘incident’. I’m surprised you didn’t go on, like, a hiatus or something. I know I’d be scared of going back in public after such humiliation.”

“Yeah, that is kind of weird,” another one added.

“I.. No. Listen, I made a mistake, and I do regret it. I lost focus and messed up, but being a fairy means always doing your job. I wouldn’t go on a hiatus over some mistake.”

“Some mistake? You just let the bad guy escape. Didn’t even look back. You just let him go!” The students were starting to get more snappy.

“It wasn’t on purpose, I just-“

“You just what? You know, it’s pretty unprofessional, what you did. You talk all this talk about ‘this and that is part of the job as a fairy’ but you seemed to forget the most important part; actually defeating the bad guy.” They were getting bigger and bigger, their scowling faces deforming weirdly.

“Exactly. You look really suspicious right now.”

What? She just told them that she felt bad about it!

“Hey girls, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was working with him. The thief, y’know.”

Oh, not this bullshit again. She is not a traitor.

“Such a two-faced bitc-“

“Just shut it, already!” Musa yelled, even more agitated than before. The students looked shocked for a moment, the shock then turning into looks of self-pity and offense. The music fairy slowly walked towards them, and angry look on her face.

“I’m not working with the thief! That’s ridiculous? And I am not plotting against the school! So stop talking all this nonsense! You are all immature brats who don’t care for anything but drama to fill your boring, pathetic live-“

“Musa, stop. Stop it!” Riven grabbed her from behind by the arms, as she struggled to get out of his grip. “You can’t just say stuff like that!” He whisper-shouted, as the students put on fake faces of fear.

Riven dragged Musa into one of the classrooms, quickly telling the students to give them a moment. He shut the door, then turned towards his girlfriend, who was looking away, arms crossed and a frown on her face.

“What has gotten into you?! Picking fights with students!?”

“They were mocking me, Riven! Insulting me, saying horrible things, okay! I… you wouldn’t get it! You’re not being looked down upon by the entire magic dimension-“

“Musa, you are supposed to set an example for these people! You can’t let personal stuff get in the way!”

“Oh, look who’s talking! You always let personal stuff get in the way and- and… then end up yelling at everyone around you! You would’ve done the same, because… well, you are the same!” Musa glared at Riven, mocking his hypocrisy.

“What are you even…?! That’s not what this is about, okay, we’re not talking about me, we’re talking about you!”

“Oh, right. Right… Just keep ignoring the fact that you are a walking fucking time-bomb yourself! Oh!- And also! Why..!- How come you’re first now, when I get into ‘trouble’, acknowledging my existence?! I thought- I thought you had completely forgotten about me a long time ago!” Musa’s voice was strained by now, her throat hurting like crazy.

The atmosphere in the room was getting more and more intense, and Riven’s face was red in anger.

“You..! Stop trying to change the goddamn subject, Musa! Why the fuck are you acting like this?! I mean, you can’t be fucking serious! Are you fucking serious?!” Riven was flapping his arms around and shaking his head, expressing his frustration through both words and gestures.

“You don’t understand, okay?! You don’t fucking understand, Riven! Gosh, why do you have to be so stupid?!” she yelled back.

Riven looked up, clearly offended, but strangely didn’t respond to Musa’s claim. Instead, he lowered his voice, taking a different approach to the situation.

“Musa. You are going to go out and apologize to those fairies, okay?”

“But-“

“No buts. Go out and apologize for lashing out on them. Now.”

Musa glared at him again, but decided to give up. She made her way to the door that lead to the hallway where the students were.

Approaching rather slowly, she finally took hold of the doorknob, twisting it. As she did so, she thought about how she was going to apologize, and how she was going to fix this whole situation. If she wasn’t in trouble before, she sure as hell was six feet under now. God curse her bad temper.

She took a deep breath, as she opened the door and stepped out slightly. It was then, that she was met by a sight that would surely be imprinted on her brain for the rest of eternity.

The four fairies, who had accompanied them, lay scattered around the hallway, which was now painted in a very peculiar shade of red.

Blood.

It looked straight out of a horror movie. One student was hanging from the ceiling, more specifically from one of the chandeliers. Her bones were twisted and adjusted to fit between the gaps in the fancy lamp, burns visible all over from the lit candles. There was also a metal wire involved, which was wrapped around the young girl’s entire body, digging into the already blood-stained flesh.

Another student was now reduced to a gross-looking pile of disembodied limbs and shreds. It looked like some kind of weird blob. Her head seemed to have been sliced through vertically, dividing the face into two symmetrical shapes. It was a perfect cut, like a chef would’ve cut his vegetables. Blood was gushing out, and the insides of the student’s head were pretty visible, brains and all.

The third young fairy was positioned against the wall, arms held up with strange spikes. She had been cut into two pieces, her torso separated from her hips. Her legs, however, had been turned around and somewhat pushed into the bottom of her upper body, right into the cut. The shape of her impaling legs was visible through the skin and fabric right below her collarbone, heels seemingly pointing upwards.

The last student was completely flat, aside from her head. The rest of her body had been smashed into the floor, blood and skin splattered all over, as if a huge rock had fallen on top of her. It was an awful sight.

Now the four girls had few noticable similarities in their injuries. They all had their eyes wide open, bloodshot with dried-out tears surrounding. Their mouths were also wide open, but ripped apart and bloodied, with what looked like single rocks jammed inside each of their jaws, preventing them from closing.

Even the student who had her head split had this, the rock having been sliced alongside her.

Another thing to note was the fact that the two, who weren’t flat or completely pulled apart, seemed to have been gutted like fish, their insides spread all across the hallway. It was hard to tell if the other two still had their organs, not that it mattered at this point.

Musa stared in shock at the scene before her. What was actually a few seconds felt like an eternity, before she snapped out of it and came to the horrifying realization.

They were dead. Murdered.

A loud, terrified scream echoed throughout the corridor, reaching every inch of the enormous school.

Chapter Text

A loud, terrified scream echoed throughout the corridors, reaching every inch of the enormous school.

Thud.

Musa fell to the ground, leaning against the wall and clutching her chest. She struggled to inhale, her breathing ragged, as she let out strained mutters of nearly incomprehensible pleas.

Her face was twisted into a very panicked one, her eyes widened, eyebrows furrowed, and mouth slightly open. By now she had subconsciously detransformed, too shocked to maintain her magical form.

She continued to hyperventilate, seeing the slaughtered corpses of her juniors.

“Hey! What was that?! Winx, are you all okay?” Bloom’s voice sounded through the in-ear communicators.

The others all checked in, also expressing concerns. Well, all except for Musa. She was not in a state to answer right now. She could barely even comprehend what her friends were saying.

“Musa, come in! Are you ther…” Her friends’ voices turned slow and distorted. It was like everything was spinning.

“Musa! Hey, Muse! What is going o-“ Riven stopped dead in his tracks, when he too saw the scene in front of him.

“What the… What the hell?!” Riven shouted, clearly as panicked as his girlfriend was, just in a… different way.

“What happened?! This is- How could this!? We were just in there and- Huh?!” He started pacing in small circles.

Just then, Musa looked up, slowly looking back at the bloodstained scene. She looked around carefully, and there, at the end of the hallway, she saw a figure - the thief.

With his signature brown robe and black face-like mask, but most notably, his glowing, orange eyes. Musa could feel his cold gaze, as if it was stabbing her eyes out. His head was slightly tilted, and he was standing as still as a statue. She thought he looked scarier than she remembered, which was emphasized by the blood covering his cloak.

Musa’s eyes widened, as she struggled to stand up and move towards Riven. “Riv… Riv! Riven, we have to- we have to go..!” She shook him as she attempted to pull him in the direction opposite of the cloaked man.

“Riven, please! Riv, let’s… let’s go!” Her voice shook. Riven, finally somewhat back to his senses, then also saw the assailant slowly approaching them. Panicked, he grabbed Musa by the arm as they started running.

Everything was spinning. Musa’s vision was blurry, and disoriented. Riven still had a tight grip on her arm, eager to get them both to safety.

The music fairy felt the stare of the figure that was chasing them. It was suffocating. She could’ve even sworn she heard low growls coming from behind them.

Growls…? Has he always growled? The sounds he produced were scary, to say the least. They sounded aggressive, hungry. It was an awful noise, extremely dissonant, and it was making Musa’s head throb like crazy.

They kept running through the hallways for what seemed like an eternity, colors of their surroundings mixing dramatically as they reached the opposite half the school, which appeared ominously darker.

After yet another ‘eternity’ of fleeing, they turned around a corner and nearly collided with their friends and the rest of the students. It seemed they had already run into each other, or met up to see if anyone was missing.

“There you are! We were getting worried!” Sky exclaimed.

“Why weren’t you answering? You didn’t break your in-ears, did you?” Tecna inquired.

Musa and Riven struggled to respond.

“Hey, what’s going on? Musa, why aren’t you transformed? Where are the students?” Bloom asked, confused.

They stayed silent again, then Musa looked behind them. She could hear the low growls growing louder. She hastily pulled on Riven’s sleeve.

He took the hint, and looked at the others. “We need to leave, immediately,” Riven urged.

“What, why? Did you find something?” Brandon questioned, concerned. The other students were also muttering words of concern and confusion.

“Yeah, and we need to leave. It’s not safe here,” Riven still held onto Musa’s arm, as he walked with her to the front of the large group, gesturing for the others to go that way.

“Yeah, of course it’s not. That’s why we’re here, right? To make it safe!” Stella reasoned.

“No…” Musa muttered.

“Hey,” Flora walked up to her visibly shaking friend. “What’s wrong?”

Musa didn’t really answer.

“We have to go! This is way too dangerous, even for us!” Riven continued trying to convince the rest.

“But why-“ Nabu was interrupted by a scream, coming from behind them.

One of the students stood there, struggling against the strong grip of the masked perpetrator. He was holding her by the arm, standing completely still and just staring at the others.

His orange eyes glowed through the holes in the mask, piercing right through their souls. He was different from what they remembered.

“Marie! Oh no!” some the other students shouted the young fairy’s name, rushing to help her escape. Two of them surrounded her, pulling her away from his grip, trying to get the man away from her. They were standing close. Maybe a bit too close…

“Wait, hold on-!” Musa was cut off by a gross, slimy sound.

The cloaked man had impaled three of the students, including the one he had just held captive, right through their stomachs. All with his… arm?

As he retracted his limb, guts could be seen falling out of the three fairies. Their limp bodies fell onto the cold floor, and they bathed in puddles of their own blood and insides, which could now be considered ‘outsides’.

They were horrified. Some started screaming, others crying, and some just stood in shock.

He slowly lifted his arm to his mouth and started licking off the blood, whilst gazing at the others.

“What the fuck?!” Stella shrieked, clutching onto Brandon like he were her lifeline.

Flora looked like she was about to pass out, Aisha and Tecna were seemingly trying to process what had just happened and Bloom was trying to say something, to fulfill her role as leader and make a plan, but could only let out stutters and other incoherent words.

They were still transformed, however. Maybe Musa detransforming was partly caused by the stress from both the fight with Riven, and the students, who were now dead, mocking her earlier.

Musa didn’t even dare look up at the attacker, nor the newly fresh corpses, that were now lying on the floor.

“We need to go!” Riven yelled, regaining his senses.

“What?! Go?? We can’t just leave them here!” One of the remaining student fairies protested, whilst pointing at her dead friends. Her face was red, eyes glistening with tears, and her jaw was clenched, shaking a bit.

The culprit continued staring at them, not moving much, as if taking his time to observe their reactions, silently mocking them.

“We ca- we can fight him… we- That’s what we came here to do. Right, Winx?” Bloom stuttered, trembling and clearly still shocked.

The other Winx were quiet. They had experienced lots of battles, fought against powerful villains, been to the most terrifying places, witnessed the passing of people they cared about.

Yet… this was different. Never in their careers had they experienced such extreme violence, such a gutwrenching sight, such gore. Never have they seen someone with such a direct desire to kill, and it had cut them off guard completely.

Musa shook her head and turned to her friends. “We shouldn’t take any chances! We need to go, now!” she shouted.

Trusting their blue haired friend, they quickly convinced the young students, and started fleeing toward the nearest exit.

The masked individual tilted his head, and started marching forward, following the group. He growled loudly, the sound echoing throughout the corridors.

The students and Winx, aside from Musa, were flying, while the rest were running. They threw spells towards him in an attempt to slow him down, which… didn’t really seem to work. The thief, now murderer, was clearly still following them, as the growls continued.

They finally approached an exit, slightly relieved. However, they had yet to cross the school’s super large courtyard.

“Huff… huff… come on, everyone! We’re almost there!” Bloom encouraged the others. Out of the corners of their eyes they could all see the figure approaching.

As they were making their way across the courtyard, Stella accidentally tripped over some vines, separating her from the group.

Crack!

“Ouch!” She yelped, before realizing the man was getring closer to her. Trying to stand up, she discovered that her left foot was tangled up in the vines, preventing her from moving. She looked in fear, before yelling out to her friends.

“Help! Guys!”

“Ah? Stella!” Everyone turned, as Brandon rushed to her aid.

He tried to rip the vines apart, but they were stronger than they looked.

“Stella! Brandon! Hurry up!” Aisha yelled. The man was by now just a few feet away from the couple, staring as usual.

Bloom took action, summoning a wall of fire to keep the assailant at bay. Brandon finally managed to free Stella’s foot and maneuvered her into a bridal carry, running back towards the rest of the group.

Right as that happened, the man broke Bloom’s fire wall into small pieces effortlessly. They all gasped at his strength, and hurried to get away.

The man started running, clearly not interested in letting them get away.

“Heh.. there has to be a faster way to get out of here!” Aisha huffed.

“Huh… Stella! Your ring!” Bloom sparked.

“What?! Oh, of course!” Stella, still being carried by Brandon, took off her ring, letting it turn into its scepter form.

“Solaria!” She yelled as she maneuvered the scepter and transported all of them, excluding the thief, out of there.

They landed not far from the gate, falling onto the moist grass. They huffed and puffed, trying to regain their breath. Some of the guards stared at them curiously.

A loud growl emanated from the college, a reminder that the man was still there.

“Everyone! We… huff… need to set up a protective shield!” Bloom ordered, the others nodding in agreement.

The Winx and the students stood in a line, channeling their powers to create a strong barrier around the school, so the thief couldn’t get out for the time being. Stella was leaning onto Flora, having damaged her ankle when she fell earlier.

The school was very big, so they’d have to use a lot of energy. Musa quickly transformed back into her fairy form, eager to use as much power as she could to protect the school.

The fairies combined their power and created a large cage-like sphere around the school, one hopefully strong enough to keep the culprit locked in. For now.

Stella had once again used her scepter to teleport everyone back to Stasis. When they arrived, they sat down in a nearby park. People around them were staring a bit.

The students were crying loudly, seeking comfort in each other’s arms and mourning the loss of their friends together.

The rest were still a bit in shock. Tecna had managed to contact Mr Wixx, and he had agreed to meet with them once again.

Despite the sobbing in the background, there was a rather akward silence between the Winx and specialists. They were all just staring at the ground, not moving much.

Stella’s ankle was visibly injured, as it appeared swelled up and red.

Musa bit her lip, fidgeting softly with the hem of her shirt.

They’re dead…

It didn’t quite feel real, this whole situation. She closed her eyes, hoping that the moment she’d open them again, she would find herself in her bed, and this had all just been a bad dream.

“I think we need a new plan,” Bloom spoke, her voice hoarse. “He’s clearly uh, different than we thought.”

“I don’t understand this at all. First he steals, no he kills?! It makes no sense!” Aisha said frustratingly.

“Maybe we go back to Alfea for a bit. Maybe if we get some rest, we’ll be able to better figure out what to do about… this,” Flora suggested, trembling a bit.

Tecna interjected, “But we don’t have much time. We need him out of that college and into Oblivion as soon as possible.”

Bloom sighed, “It may not be so easy..”

A few more minutes, and Mr Wixx arrived. Upon seeing their conflicted expressions, he frowned slightly and sat in front of them.

“From the looks of it… something went wrong, am I right? Weren’t there more of you?” He asked, his tone softer than when they had previously met him.

And so, they tried their best to explain the situation to him. About how the thief was still in the building, murdering anyone who gets in his way. About how they obviously can’t go back in there until they’ve got a new plan.

Riven ended up having to explain what happened to the four students, who were with him and Musa, seeing as the latter was unable to speak due to the shock. But even Riven struggled to explain it, not having looked closely enough to be able to recall exactly what they looked like.

Mr Wixx was understanding, and offered to pay for their stay at a nearby hotel, as the were clearly too shook and exhausted to get back home safely at this rate.

They stayed at the hotel, acknowledging the need to let the situation sink in. They made a promise to themselves that they would take the next day to decide whether to return home or explore alternative options.

Chapter Text

Tap… tap… tap…

The rain tapped gently against the window. The sound would’ve normally felt more comforting, but right now, nothing could comfort the fairy of music.

It was still dark out. Musa sat in her assigned hotel room. She shared it with Tecna, her usual roommate, who seemed to be sleeping soundly. Musa didn’t understand how anyone could sleep after what had happened. She sighed.

The images of the slaughtered young girls kept infiltrating her mind, and it hurt more each time.

Maybe… if only I hadn’t made a scene… I could have saved them…

Musa partially blamed herself, but also knew she could’ve never guessed things would turn out that way.

The strangest thing, she thought, was that she didn’t hear anything, while the students were getting killed right outside the room she and Riven were in.

Did their argument cancel out the noise of their screams? But that didn’t make sense. Musa had excellent hearing, some of the best. There’s no way she wouldn’t have heard them scream.

But she didn’t hear them scream. Maybe they never got the chance to? Maybe the killer was really this sly? It didn’t make sense. None of it did.

Musa worried about her friends, the guys, Riven, and the remaining students. She worried they’d be scarred for life. She also worried about the fate of the universe.

If he doesn’t get caught, then…

Musa wondered why the thief had started killing? And why did he come to Goodwill Academy? Why did he stay there? Did he know the Winx and others were coming? She guessed it made sense, as one could easily figure guardians would be sent to catch him.

Musa wondered if the protective shield they had trapped the assailant in was strong enough? What if he already escaped?

Musa’s mind was going back and forth between mourning the victims and trying to figure out what was up with their mystery thief— now killer.

She felt so cold. She didn’t know if the temperature was actually so low or if she was imagining it, but she felt cold. Freezing, even.

She wrapped her blanket tightly around her shivering body. It didn’t really help against the freezing cold sensation, but at least it gave her a familiar & almost comforting sense of safety.

The music fairy could smell the rain outside. A refreshing scent, that made her forget about everything for a moment. She wondered if the rain felt lonely. The scent, the rhythmic sound, the sight of raindrops on the window.

If rain was a person, Musa would’ve guessed it’d feel lonely, misunderstood and scared. That’s the vibe she was getting.

She snuggled further into her blanket, imagining it was all her loved ones embracing her. How nice.

She stayed like that until the sun rose and birds started to chirp.

They had all agreed to meet up early in the morning for breakfast and discussions. Together, Musa and Tecna made their way to the hotel restaurant, where they were met by the other Winx.

The students were absent. They were still resting, and were set to return to Alfea later that day. After all, they must have felt the most grief from losing their friends, and they were still teenagers, after all.

The specialists were out training. It was sort of their shared way of letting out their pent-up emotions.

“Good morning,” Flora greeted her two approaching friends, which they returned.

The hotel restaurant was pretty big, adorned with modern-themed lamps and antique-looking paintings. The walls were plain white, and the ceiling a darker gray. Nothing matched, yet everything matched. How interesting.

They all opened their menus and ordered some well-earned breakfast. Musa decided to go for the classic egg with bacon, not really in the mood for something spectacular.

Afterwards, the mood turned a bit awkward. Musa and Tecna sat down. They all sat at the same table, yet to Musa, they all somehow felt far away from eachother.

It was silent at first, but then Bloom cleared her throat and spoke, ”We need to come up with a plan.”

“Shouldn’t we, like, take a break first? I mean, after what we just witnessed,” Stella questioned. Stella sat with some crutches next to her. Stella’s foot was bandaged up from the incident of the previous day.

“We don’t have time. Oppositus is counting on us,” Tecna remarked, fidgeting a bit with her gadget.

“Then what should we do?” Flora questioned, clearly nervous about the whole situation. But who wouldn’t be?

“We have to gather what we know, and make a plan based on that,” Bloom explained. Her tense posture and furrowed eyebrows indicated that she looked stressed.

She continued, “At first, he was only stealing. He was stealing magical artifacts and spells.”

“He often targeted museums, historic libraries, and in some cases, magic schools,” Tecna added.

Now this was nothing new to the Winx. They had often dealt with similar cases, such as Valtor and the Trix.

“And he was damn good at it too. He got away each time, even if we did stop him from stealing a few times,” Aisha noted, clenching her fists.

“I guess he prioritized his escape over the objects he tried to steal.” Musa added.

“Maybe getting the stuff wasn’t as important to him as we thought?” Bloom said.

“Then what would be the point in stealing?” Stella remarked.

“Maybe he’s just really fucked up,” Aisha spoke.

“Language!” Flora scolded softly, earning a nervous chuckle from Aisha.

“What else do we know? He always wears the same mask, with that brown robe,” Bloom exclaimed.

“It’s his signature,” Musa added. “He also has those glowing, orange eyes.”

“What about behavior?” Flora asked.

“In the beginning he was rather calm, in a sense. He always had a smooth way of doing things. Now, however, it seems he has gotten more aggressive,” Tecna noted.

“That’s right. It’s like he’s a whole different person now! Why change his ways?” Stella wondered.

Bloom seemed deep in thought, “Someone must have triggered him… but what?”

The Winx attempted to theorize further, but didn’t get all that far. They were clearly all still shook and tired from the previous day’s events.

After a while of discussing to no avail, silence draped over the room. Their breakfast finally arrived, allowing them to focus their energies on fulling their stomachs.

Musa thought hard, as she repeatedly poked her fork into the eggs on her plate.

What is it about him? He seems different. His whole vibe, his behavior. Those growls… He never growled before this incident. Why is he so aggressive now? Why did he start killing innocent people? What is it that drives him?

We came a day after the attacks at Goodwill started. He could’ve left in that time. But he didn’t. Did he know we were coming? But how? Of course. This is a magical dimension. Anything is possible! But something’s off.

Riven and I were in the room next to the hallway were the thief murdered the students. We were fighting, loudly with no doubt! And the walls didn’t seem soundproof.

But then again, we never heard him attack those young girls. So did he not know we were in that room? He must not have.

The growls, his eyes, his change of plan. If it weren’t for the outfit, I would’ve thought it’s a whole other person. Is it? Maybe it is. But then why does he look the same as the thief? This makes no sense. Nothing makes sense!

What are his plans? His motives? This shit is making my brain hurt. What will be his next move? How is he so powerful? Who is he?

“…do we do?”

Musa felt extremely creeped out by the situation.

“…make a plan… too late…”

She felt cold again. It was suffocating. Soft murmurs echoed through her mind, but they weren’t her own.

“…even listening? Musa?”

Oh right. She and her friends were discussing plans.

“Yeah?”

“Were you zoning out again? Did you hear anything we said?” Stella confronted.

“No, yeah. Of course, I heard,” Musa pretended.

“Oh, really? Then what did we-“

Tecna cut Stella off, “there’s no time for this. We need to decide what we’re going to do next!”

“Can’t we just go home? We obviously can’t defeat him for the time being!” Aisha beckoned.

“And leave Goodwill Academy unattended and endangered? We made a promise to them,” Bloom reasoned.

“I’d rather break a promise than die trying to keep it! Besides, I hate to say this, but I do not want to see any dead bodies again!” Stella argued.

“But they need our help,” Tecna interjected.

“Can’t we just explain to them that we initially underestimated the danger of the situation? I’m sure they’ll understand,” Flora suggested.

“We’re their best chance at fixing the situation. If we tell them we can’t help, won’t they panic?” Musa wondered.

“They can just wait and be patient. We’ll obviously defeat that monster sooner or later. Just not right now!” Stella stood firm.

“But will we? I mean, we all saw how strong he is,” Aisha said.

“We’re the Winx! We’ve defeated countless of threats! We can’t let this guy scare us. We need to act fast,” Bloom encouraged.

“How do we even know he’s still there? I mean, we put up a shield, but didn’t you guys see how easily he got through our spells?” Musa pointed out.

“There’s still guards around the school. They would’ve reported him leaving,” Tecna assured.

“You really think he wouldn’t be able to cook up some invisibility spell?” Stella interjected.

“So he’s probably roaming around freely and already planning his next attack? Great,” Aisha complained.

“What is the plan, then?” Flora questioned.

Bloom went silent for a bit, before answering.

“We go back to Goodwill Academy to check if he’s still there.”

“Are you serious? That’s too risky!” Aisha sputtered.

“If we go back, and he still is there after all, he’ll kill us all!” Stella yelled.

“Then you guys stay! I’ll do it alone!” Bloom snapped, slamming her hands on the table and standing up.

“Okay girls, let’s stay calm,” Tecna tried to calm them down.

“And if he’s not in the school, he’ll probably kill us at some other point! We need to act fast!” Bloom tried to convince the others.

“Bloom,” Flora called, earning a look from said girl.

“You know we need a better plan.”

Bloom stayed quiet.

“Are you upset because you couldn’t beat him? Couldn’t stop him?” Tecna questioned, a bit insensitively.

“I just- you guys saw what he did to those students! W-we have to stop him!” Bloom said, her voice sounding a bit strained. Flora stood up as well and put a hand on her distressed friend’s shoulder.

“And we will, but first we need a better plan. We can’t afford to make reckless decisions now.”
Flora really lived up to her mother-in-the-group role.

She guided Bloom to sit back down, after which Bloom leaned her forehead on her hands the table, looking down.

“I’m sorry, I just… I don’t know what to do…” she confessed.

“It’s okay. None of us do,” Musa reassured.

“But I’m supposed to be the leader. I’m supposed to always know what to do,” Bloom muttered.

“Bloom. Not a single one of us expects that from you. We know how hard you work already, and everybody has these moments. It’s alright,” Stella cooed, having calmed down from before.

“We’re clearly all still tense from what happened, which makes perfect sense. We should take some more time to rest,” Flora suggested.

“We should go back to Alfea alongside the students. We need more time. Goodwill academy should remain closed for now, until we can go back and defeat that guy,” Aisha suggested.

They all ended up agreeing, and later met up with the specialists, who also agreed to go home. They explained the danger of the situation to Mr Wixx and how they’d come back after some time. He seemed understanding enough.

They all returned to Alfea that day, hoping to get some rest and then come up with a proper plan.

The first thing the Winx did when they arrived was go to Ms Faragonda’s office and fill her in on what had happened. Of course, this was no casual conversation. Having to announce the death of students to a headmistress.

Ms Faragonda looked down at her desk, hands put together and eyebrows furrowed. She sighed.

“I had no idea it’d come to this.”

“None of us did,” Bloom cooed.

“What should we do?” Flora asked.

“You girls go rest. You need it,” the headmistress answered.

“Are you sure? We can discuss things right now if you-“

Ms Faragonda cut Bloom off, “We’ll discuss it later. You girls have been through a lot. Please, take a few days off. I’ll go over the situation with some people I know.”

The Winx went back to their dorm.

It was late at night, and they’d all gone to bed, when Musa suddenly woke up for no apparent reason. Trying to get back to sleep, she turned continuously in an attempt to get back into a comfortable position.

But it didn’t seem to work. She suddenly had this uneasy feeling of coldness and vulnerability, and she swore something was about to jump on her from behind.

But, of course, there was nobody there. She and Tecna were the only ones in the room. She could tell by her great hearing, and the lack of a possible third party’s breathing or rustling, which calmed her down a little. Still, she felt uncomfortable.

In the end she just gave up on trying to sleep, and quietly got up from her bed. She carefully walked into the dorm’s living room. It wasn’t any better than her room. She felt even colder now (probably because she didn’t have a blanket anymore).

The room was dark. Of course it was. It was night, after all. Still, it felt darker than usual. Not visually, but there was something eery about the atmosphere.

Musa concluded it was just her imagination and sat down on the couch. She could tell some of her friends were awoke from the hushed whispers and controlled rustling sounding from the doors around her. She couldn’t blame them, of course. What happened was awful.

As much as she hated to admit it, she did feel a bit relieved by the fact that some of the others couldn’t sleep either. It made her feel less alone.

Musa leaned back against the couch, and looked at the ceiling. She stared at the same spot for a while, watching as the colors turned darker and the spot distorted. Of course, it went back to normal as soon as she finally blinked, after her eyes started to hurt.

She repeated that process over and over, until she started feeling sleepy and went back to her room to try sleeping again.

This time it worked.

The following days were spent resting, stressing, and resting again. The Winx slowly started regaining their energies.

The college for fairies had just held a ceremony for the passings of the students, and every contributed to their memorials. Bouquets of flowers, lit candles, drawings, letters, anything really. It was sad, yet beautiful.

Bloom, Stella, Aisha, Musa and Flora were all in their dorm’s living room. They were mostly chatting, with Stella painting her own nails, while Flora watered some plants.

Tecna came in, holding a pretty big gadget, and clearing her throat to get the others’ attention.

“What is that?” Stella asked, pausing her nail-painting for a moment.

“It’s a drone. But not just any ordinary drone! It’s a super strong, magic-resistant drone,” Tecna proudly presented, seemingly having something in mind for the object.

“A drone? That’s cool and all… but why?” Aisha questioned.

“Well, I thought, we could use this drone to enter Goodwill Academy. It’d be a safer way to check if the man is still in there or not.”

Flora spoke up, a bit curious, “but what if he notices the drone, and just avoids it, not allowing us to see him?”

“I’ve thought about that too,” Tecna pulled out a smaller device and continued,

“I’ve put together this locator. When the drone arrives at the school, it will plant the bug, and show us a map of the surrounding area up to 300 square feet. It has a built-in radar, which picks up any detected signals matching that of a living person.”

“Always count on Tecna to find the right solution,” Musa complimented.

“What if he breaks it?” Stella seemed a bit skeptical.

Tecna thought for a bit, “Well, that is always a risk…”

Bloom chimed in, “Risky or not, I think it’s definitely worth a try. What do you guys say?”

They all ended up agreeing to Tecna’s idea.

“Alright. I’ll give Mr Wixx a call and let him know, then,” the techno-fairy said.

Now they could all go to sleep, feeling relieved that they finally had a bit of a plan.

Chapter Text

The Winx were sitting in their shared living room, looking at a holographic screen that displayed the corridors of Goodwill Academy.

Aisha and Bloom sat in the chairs, while Stella was positioned on a plush stool. Tecna sat in the middle, controlling the drone and guiding it through the spacious school.

Upon having the drone enter schoolgrounds, they noticed that the barrier they’d put up was still there. He must’ve still been inside.

“What if he just avoids the drone? What then?” Stella asks, seeming a bit skeptical now.

“I told you, I have a radar built into the device, which allows us to pinpoint any life forces and/or movement in the area. There’s no way we wouldn’t get some sort of signal!” Tecna defended.

The drone was now approaching the area where some of the students… died. Strangely enough, they weren’t there.

“Wait, are we sure this was where they… y’know?” Aisha questioned.

Bloom frowned, “It has to be! I remember that painting clearly.”

“But nothing’s there!” Flora pointed out.

“It’s not like we found those other bodies Mr Wixx claimed would be there… maybe the thief, killer or whatever took them?” Musa suggested.

“Okay, this isn’t going to work!” Stella exclaimed, slamming her hands on her thighs.

“What? But we’re doing fine? We just have to be patient.” Tecna spoke.

“Not the drone! I mean the thief-killer-thing! We can’t keep calling him that! It’s way too confusing.” the sun and moon fairy explained.

“That’s your biggest concern?” Aisha raised an eyebrow.

“Maybe Stella is right. We need some kind of codename for this guy.” Bloom agreed.

Musa raised her hand, “I vote for creepo-corpse-keepo.”

“What?” Aisha raised her eyebrow yet again, leaning her face against her hand on an armrest.

“Do we have to discuss names for him right now? We’re losing focus,” Tecna said sternly, not taking her eyes off the screen.

“Right…” murmured Bloom, and they all looked back at the screen with full focus.

After hours of exploring the impossibly large school with Tecna’s device, the Winx came to two conclusions.

“The bodies aren’t there anymore, and neither is he,” Bloom noted.

“But the shield is still up? He can’t have escaped!” Stella reasoned.

Tecna had the drone fly outside and start inspecting the shield, checking along the backside of the building.

“There, you see,” the inventor pointed out.

There, in the barrier; a person-sized hole.

“So he did escape…” Flora spoke softly, sinking back into the couch a bit.

“Wait, couldn’t we have just checked the barrier from the start?” Aisha questioned.

“We obviously couldn’t see a hole because it’s in the back. Besides, usually when our barrier’s are broken, the whole thing just disappears at once,” Musa reasoned.

“So… what do we do now?” Flora wondered out loud.

Bloom thought for a bit. “I’ll ask Mr Wixx to send some people into the school to check for any dark magic residue that could pose as a threat. If there’s none, he’ll be able to reopen the school.”

“Meanwhile, we’ll need to come up with a plan to stop that thief-killer, and ensure the magic dimension’s safety,” she continued.

“Yeahhh, still thinking we need a new name,” Stella exclaimed.

“Okay, fine. What are we thinking?” Tecna asked.

“Still heavy on creepo-corpse-keepo,” Musa repeated.

“We’re not calling him ‘creepo-corpse-keepo’. What does that even mean?” Aisha questioned.

“You know… because he’s, like, a creep… and he keeps the corpses of his victims, or something…” Musa explained, failing to make any sense.

“We don’t know that. He might just dump them somewhere,” Aisha argued.

“Okay, then creepo-corpse-dumpo… eh, doesn’t really roll off the tongue…” the music fairy said, disappointed.

“Okay, anyways! How about… Mask dude?” Stella suggested, seeming confident.

“Sounds like a comic-book superhero but worse,” Bloom half-joked, earning a pout from Stella.

“Maybe we could call him TTK? As in ‘thief-turned-killer’?” Tecna said.

“Sounds like the name of an evil organisation or cult,” Aisha said.

“Any better ideas?”

Aisha leaned back a bit.
“Thiefller.”

“What?” Tecna raised an eyebrow.

“It’s ‘thief’ plus ‘killer’. Thiefller.”

“Eh… maybe not,” Bloom intervened.

“Okay, girls! Just *think* for a second! We need a fitting codename that both represents his disgustingness and generally just him as a villain,” Stella exclaimed.

“What about… the Shadow striker? Him wearing a mask and robe indicates that he prefers to stay in the shadow, if you know what I mean,” Flora suggested.

Aisha nodded, holding her own chin.
“Shadow striker… I like it.”

“Shadow striker it is.”

Musa sat in her music cafe, replacing the strings of her guitar. She yawned as she finally loosened the last one of the old strings. This particular one seemed to not budge at all at first.

She threw the old strings into a bin and started putting in the new ones.

Musa reminisced on how she learned to replace the strings of a guitar. This was during the time her father had forbidden music from the house.

Unbeknownst to him, young Musa had managed to sneak a small, dusty guitar into the house. One she had found in old boxes in their small attic.

When her dad went out to work, get groceries or for whatever reason, Musa would spend some time cleaning and fixing the guitar.

Then she realized, that the guitar’s strings were old and worn out. So, the next day, when her father went off the work, Musa secretly went to a local music shop.

It wasn’t much. A tiny hut owned by a sweet woman. Musa used her allowance money to buy some new strings, and hurried back home.

When she got home, she didn’t have any idea of how to replace the strings properly.

So she kept trying, and after a few days of fiddling with the strings and trying to avoid getting caught, she finally managed to replace the strings, allowing her to play the small guitar whenever her dad was away.

Musa clearly remembered those times. Her dad had been so traumatized by his wife’s death, that he couldn’t bear to look at or listen to any sources of music at all.

Musa felt bad. Music was his life as much as it was her mother’s and her own. Luckily, after some convincing (said convincing being a song performed by Musa), her father finally allowed music back into his life.

Musa hadn’t realized her eyes had been closed until the opened them again.

Oh right. Replacing the strings.

Musa looked back down at her guitar.

Huh?

The strings were gone.

But they were just there?

A noise came from behind her. Like something being knocked over.

Musa turned her head.

Nothing.

She shrugged it off, albeit feeling a bit uneasy, and turned her head back to her…

Well, not her guitar, because her guitar was not where it just was.

“What the…”

Musa stood up and looked around, searching for anything suspicious.

“If this is some kind of prank, it’s not funny!”

The musician kept looking around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

All her instruments were there, aside from her missing guitar. Her flutes, her bass, her piano—

Nevermind.

“Where the fuck is my piano?!”

Musa ran up to the place where her piano would usually be standing. She furrowed her eyebrows, trying to make sense of the situations. She turned around again to face the room.

“This isn’t fucking funny, I’m not letting whoever is doing this get away with it, you hear me?!”

“Just like you let him get away?”

*What?*

The strange voice sounded hoarse, dry and dead. It sent chills up Musa’s spine. It came directly from behind her.

“Who..?”

Musa slowly turned her head back, and she froze.

One of the students…

One of the students that explored Goodwill Academy with her… but that student was dead.

Musa gasped and took a few steps back, until her back bumped against something cold. She turned her head again, and…

Another student… another student whom had died by the hands of the Shadow striker…

This may have been a dimension full of magic and other unreal phenomena, but stuff like this… didn’t just happen.

Musa tried to run for the door, but it was blocked by another one of the dead(?) students, and ultimately. All four of them had Musa surrounded.

Musa swore the temperature was getting lower, as their icy glares dug deep into her skull.

They looked… different, to say the least. They weren’t cut up, gagged and slaughtered like she had found them a few days back, but they were impossibly pale and looked dead nonetheless.

“H-how are you..?” Musa struggled to finish her sentence, too shocked to really say much.

“You let this happen… you let us die…” the four dead students chanted, not even blinking as they stared into Musa’s soul.

“What..? What do you mean?!”

“You left us to die… you let us rot…”

Musa trembled, shaking her head as her face turned nearly as white as theirs.
“No.. I didn’t know! I…I didn’t know this would happen, okay!”

“You didn’t know that what would happen..?” Only one of them asked this time.

Musa felt her gaze forcefully lock onto the next one. “You mean this?”

The girl’s body elicited loud cracking sounds as her limbs visibly snapped into impossibly directions and her bones broke. Her skin turned red, as her eyes turned white and teary. At the same time, a metal wire wrapped itself around her, digging into her skin hard enough to draw blood all over.

The girl screamed and screamed as this happened, but the screams sounded off. It sounded more like wails. Low-pitched, slowed down wails of pain and misery. It was horrifying.

Eventually, these screams were muted by a single big, round rock forming itself into her mouth, almost ripping her jaw apart.

A familiar-looking chandelier with burning candles somehow emerged from the ceiling, and the girl’s broken limbs twisted and turned until they managed to fit through every single gap.

It was the exact same scene Musa had found that very student in a few days ago.

Musa stood in shock, her breathing ragged and heart beating like it was going to explode.

Another one of the pale girls stepped forward. “Or did you mean this?”

Her flesh ripped apart from her feet and up to her neck, as she let out the same low-pitched, almost demon-like screams. Those screams were then also muffled by a round rock, then followed by her head somehow splitting into two parts. A clean cut by an invisible object.

And the other two quickly followed, going from pale, zombie-like versions of their former selves to the different states they were found in.

A bloody mess.

Musa was shaking. She bit her nails messily, as she let out panicked, audible breaths of terror. She gritted her teeth from side to side, shaking her head repeatedly.

“No.. no! Stop! Stop it!”

The music fairy stepped back until she reached the counter and sat down against it. She looked at the terrorizing scene that was once her precious music cafe, and sobbed, absolutely mortified.

“I’m sorry! I-I’m so… so sorry…”

Musa lowered her head into her hands, scratching at her own face and still hyperventilating. She struggled to speak, being too out of breath to speak clearly.

She could only repeat apologies, which came out as rather muffled and stutter-y. Her throat felt tight, like it would close up and choke her at any moment.

“I’m sorry… I… I… sorry… sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! Sorry! SORRY!”

She had her eyes squeezed and hidden behind her hands for what felt like an eternity. Just sitting and hoping for this nightmare to end.

Musa’s breaths gradually slowed down and her panic subdued as time passed. She slowly uncovered her eyes.

The blood was gone. And so were the dead girls.

Musa sighed in relief.

After taking a few minutes to just look and take in the familiar design of her music cafe, Musa eventually noticed that she wasn’t sitting against the counter anymore.

In fact, she was now back in the position she sat in earlier, when she was fixing her guitar.

How strange.

Musa looked down, and there her guitar was again. With all the strings.

It was just a dream..?

Musa blinked, and looked around again.

Everything was completely normal. Nothing was out of place or gone.

Nothing was wrong.

Musa bit her inner cheek, blinking repeatedly to wash away the wave of both confusion and apparent drowsiness?

I guess it really was a dream… or well, a nightmare.

She had simply fallen asleep while sitting up… somehow.

The things a bad week could do to you.

Musa yawned. Said yawn was unfortunately interrupted by knocking on the door.

“Come in!” Musa croaked (prettiest croak ever). Yeah, her voice was a bit hoarse and raspy from the eventful nap she just had.

It was Aisha.

“Hey, M. How are you doing?” The brunette leaned against the doorframe.

Musa looked up, thinking of what to say.

“Oh, yeah, I’m good. Just… replacing guitar strings.”

The words came out a bit more nervously than Musa had intented, but whatever. She didn’t feel like sharing her nightmare right now.

“Didn’t you start doing that an hour ago?”

Oh, right. Musa had mentioned that she was going to.

An hour? Had it really been that long?

Musa tried to sound as casual as possible, trying to sell it with an unintentionally weird-looking smile.
“Oh… well, you know. Stuff takes a long time… or something. I guess. It’s a tricky process. Even for me. Yeah.”

That was a complete lie, Musa usually finishes within 5-10 minutes, depending on the amount of time she spends reminiscing on the past.

Aisha raised an eyebrow, not entirely convinced. “Okay… you sure everything’s okay?”

“Yeah. Or well… obviously not everything is okay right now, but considering the circumstances, I am as okay as can be.”

Musa smiled genuinely. Aisha always looked tough and fearless, but she could be a real worrywart when it came to people she cared about. Sometimes even more than Flora.

“Okay. But if you need to talk at any moment, let me know. Or literally let anyone know.”

“Yeah, will do. And that goes for you too.”

Aisha laughed. “Got it.”

Friendly conversations like these always made Musa feel warm. It was reassuring, a reminder that the world wasn’t lost.

“Hey, Muse.” Aisha’s tone sounded a bit more serious now.

“Yeah?”

“You have marks on your face. Are those scratches?”

“Huh?”

Musa reached up to touch her own face. She could definitely feel slight, line-like swellings on her face. It suddenly felt sore and it was like her face was burning a little.

Musa abracadabra’d a mirror in front of her, and no doubt, there were a bunch of scratches on her face. They weren’t deep enough to draw much blood, but they were still red and itchy as fuck.

“Did something happen?” Aisha asked, concerned.

“Did something…” Musa repeated, slacking off a little.

Musa remembered scratching her face in her nightmare. Maybe she copied that in her sleep.

“I… I was just taking a nap. I must’ve unconsciously started scratching my face…”, Musa told a watered-down version of the truth.

“Oh. Were you having a nightmare of some sort?”

Darn people with well-functioning brains.

Well, nightmares weren’t *that* embarrassing. Musa just really wanted to forget about it.

“Uh, just a small nightmare, maybe.”

“Oh. You wanna talk about it?”

Sometimes, Musa wanted to cry because of how sweet her friends were.

“Eh, maybe later.”

“Sure.”

Aisha smiled reassuringly.

Chapter Text

Someplace along the east side of Magix, a small forest lay. Magical energy ran like blood through the trees' wooden veins, all the way to their lively, green leaves, illuminating them with a glow of the same color.

There, in that small forest, the birds chirped and deer played, helping to form a peaceful and calming atmosphere.

However, that peace was soon shattered by low, agonized growls. The animals fled, as their territory was invaded by a masked, humanoid figure shrouded in a cloak.

His dark energy radiated through the forest, polluting the trees and plants, leaving them gray and rotting.

The figure panted and growled, scratching aggressively at his own face and body.

“Hnngh…”

He dropped down to his knees, bending over his torso, and covering his ears harshly.

“Stop… stop…”
His low, hoarse voice begged. Despite him looking like he wanted to scream, his weak pleas came out as merely a few whispers.

“Don’t resist…” a masculine, disembodied voice whispered. This voice was different. It was lighter, more playful. It spoke with a teasing tone, as if to subtly mock the masked man.

“I didn’t want to… I didn’t want to murder…” the pleading culprit cried out, although rather quietly, his voice breaking.

“We made a pact. You surely haven’t forgotten that, have you? You cannot defy me now.”

The thief looked up with teary eyes, now seeing a mere shadow of the person he was to obey.

“I don’t consider what you want and don’t want my problem. I just wish for my plans work out. Now get up and quit whining, you pathetic creature. We are far from done yet.” The still not entirely visible figure ordered, with a slightly teasing, yet serious tone.

The cloaked John Doe looked down, closing his eyes and clenching his jaw. Tears ran down his cheeks.

The shadowy man chuckled.
“Alright… Pack your things, if you even have any. Today, we will celebrate your membership and dedication with a special, little surprise ceremony!”

Stella yawned loudly, interrupting the Winx’ comfortable silence as they ate breakfast in their dorm.

“Man… I am exhausted…”

The sun and moon fairy leaned against Flora with puffy eyes, backing up her statement.

“Maybe shouldn’t have stayed up all night trying to make that dress.” Aisha commented, burying her spoon into her yoghurt and bringing it back up to consume.

“Hey! That’s not fair! It’s not my fault that perfection takes time. Besides, you don’t get inspiration flows everyday, y’know.” Stella huffed, offendedly eating her carrot.

Bloom reached into her pocket upon feeling a vibration, then took out her phone and stared at it for a few moments.

“Oh, hey, the guys are coming over today!”, the redhead announced with a smile.

“Splendid! I can’t wait to see Brandon again”, Stella sang excitedly.

“I can use this as an opportunity to show Timmy my newest invention. He’s a great critic,” Tecna points out, mostly talking to herself.

“He’s also your boyfriend, Tecna. Remember to take some time off to catch up,” Aisha half-teases, earning a semi-confused glare from her inventive friend.

Chatter and laughter were exchanged by the fairies, while Musa sat rather quietly, thinking.

The last time she saw Riven was around the time of the… incident. They wasted valuable time fighting, which resulted in multiple deaths.

Musa wasn’t angry or upset at Riven by any means, but she felt akward contacting him. She was scared he would scold her for what had happened.

She silently cursed herself for letting something so awful happen. Musa thought she definitely deserved some kind of punishment, or at least humbling.

It was like her guilt was increasing as time went on, knowing that those students could’ve lived if it weren’t for her dramatic antics.

Every time an event occurred at Alfea after the incident, she couldn't help but think about those students who could have been there, enjoying it and living their lives to the fullest.

But they couldn’t. And not only did she feel guilty, she knew Riven felt guilty too. She could tell from the day after the murders, when she looked at Riven. He had that empty, yet furious look in his eyes.

She wanted to comfort him, assure him that it’d be okay. But she was too afraid. Too afraid to make things worse.

What guilt.

“-en’t you hungry?, Musa?”

Musa was dragged out of her thoughts, flinching a bit.

“Huh?”

“Aren’t you hungry? You haven’t touched your food for a while,” Flora stated, looking slightly concerned as the nature fairy stirred her cereal.

Musa looked down at her plate. A chicken sandwich. It looked like she had only taken a bite or two, so obviously she said:

“I’m already finished.”

Flora grimaced a bit.
“You barely ate”

“I did. Eat. I ate. Good sandwich. I’m full now.”
The words stumbled off of Musa’s tongue as she stood up and picked up her plate and glass.

“I’m going to… going to do some homework. Later.”

And in the blink of an eye, the music fairy moved to the hallway (only after quickly putting away her dishes, of course).

Musa was strolling in the forest. Or more accurately, cursing herself while struggling to keep her balance on the uneven grounds of some really messy part of the forest.

It was like a maze, with vines everywhere, plants grown so close together they blocked out most light, and the visible roots of the trees created more than enough deadly traps.

“Fuck off, trees.”

Musa did not mean any harm to nature, or Flora, but she was getting more and more pissed off.

After a good 10 minutes of nearly tripping over, getting tangled up in, almost getting strangled by and nearly getting stabbed with the cruel creations of Mother Nature, Musa finally reached a less tricky spot.

A small, even path, with few trees surrounding and plenty light to see. Musa sighed in relief.

How did she get into that situation?

After Musa left the dining hall of Alfea, she decided to go on a walk to clear her mind. While she was busy feeling bad for herself and others, she subconsciously walked way too deep into the forest and got lost.

Now here she was, still lost, but luckily not dead. Yet.

“Why is my life so messy? Can’t I even have one peaceful walk?!” Musa whined, feeling her ‘pissed-off meter’ going through the roof.

She thought for a moment. She could call her friends and ask them to help her out.

Lame.

She did not come out here for dramatic alone time, only to have to be rescued by her friends. What kind of weakling would even..?

Whatever. She could just use her phone to get a map.

Musa pulled out her phone and did exactly that, and within a few seconds, a very nice hologram-map popped out of her device.

Sweet.

“Wait. Why go back so soon… if I could stay here for just a little longer and admire the peace & quiet?”

Musa grinned to herself.

“After all, the night is still young!”

(It’s still morning)

The Shadow Striker kneeled down before a fuzzy, black blanket with something beneath it. He was located in a small space, with tools and shovels hanging on the wooden walls, the only source of light coming from the tiny gap left by the door.

The cloaked man pinched his nose.

“W-what is that smell..?” He choked out. The smell was awful. Was something rotting?

The same shadow figure from before chuckled. He was still fading in and out of sight, the closest to a form being a dark, human-shaped hue.

“Don’t worry about it. You will see in a moment, but first…”

He summoned a silver chain, adorned with a small, silver goat head. It was slightly rusty and had some scratches. It was obviously very old.

“This is a very special pendant. Crafted from the finest materials, and made to withhold powerful spirits. Wearing this once will forever benefit you and your family to come. It is a sign of trust in the Whisperer, and a contract to always obey his will.

At any cost. You wouldn’t regret making this decision. You are promised wealth and happiness. So what do you say, boy? Will you worship the Whisperer and accept him as your god?”

The shadow showcased the pendant with a proud grin. He spoke with an eery tone, one sweet enough to fool a person, but unsettling enough to give you goosebumps.

“I-I… I agree…” the cloaked figure said, lowering his head. He knew he didn’t really have a choice. On top of the eery feeling that the shadow wouldn’t take a “no”, he knew he needed the wealth that came with the commitment.

The figure chuckled again. “Excellent…”

“Now…” The shadow lifted up the blanket.

“Feast, my boy! Let us finish this wonderful ceremony! Ahaha!”

The masked man nearly gagged.

Musa was still walking around. It was probably around noon now. Maybe? She couldn’t be bothered to check.

Mostly because her friends had been calling her over and over, and she really didn’t feel like answering.

“I totally ditched my friends didn’t I…? And Riven too! God, I am an asshole,” she mumbled to herself.

Musa felt ashamed of herself. The more she thought about all the recent events, the more disgusting she started to feel. She felt as if there was blood on her hands, no matter how often she washed them.

It was sickening.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a strange sound. Musa stopped and looked around her.

The gnashing of teeth mixed with seemingly desperate slurping and low growls pierced through Musa’s ears into her mind. It was deafening. While it wasn’t actually that loud, Musa’s super-sonic hearing and extreme cautiousness amplified the feral noises in her mind.

It sounded like an animal was feasting on something. Another animal, perhaps? She guessed from the wet sounds of, possibly, flesh being ripped apart.

Musa tried to pinpoint the source of the noise, but couldn’t see anything that could’ve caused those sounds.

She figured that she should beware, chances being that this was an animal that could attack her too.

She looked around, and her eyes fell upon a little shed. Your typical tiny, wooden shed. The door was slightly open.

It looked fairly innocent, but Musa knew that whatever was making those noises was in there. She cautiously approached the small shed.

The sounds became louder.

Why would an animal be feasting in there?

She reached the door of the shed, completely silent, and peaked inside. The little light that reached through the gap was not enough to illuminate the space.

The gnashing and low growling was extremely loud now. It sounded feral, dangerous. This was no little deal. Musa knew she should turn back and call for back-up, just in case.

So, of course, Musa opened the door just a bit further, just to get enough light in.

“Hnnn… hnnn…”

…fuck

What was Musa looking at? It was no bear, too small. It was no eagle, too big and obviously not a bird.

Okay, Musa was obviously trying to gaslight herself into believing it was anything but what she secretly, unfortunately, truly suspected it was.

A human, kneeled down on the ground… eating the raw flesh of a..?

Is that a face?

The remains of a head and face laid upon a pile of blood, flesh and bones. The cold, harsh evidence that this was in fact a person and not just some big animal.

The feral human was violently ripping at and biting through the thick, bloody meat of the poor, dead soul. He looked to be a man, with wild, black hair and a light complexion.

He wore dark cloak, which contrasted against a shiny, silver pendant. It was difficult hard to make out his features beneath all the red on his face. Musa was also too shocked to even think about that.

Blood trickled down his mouth, and he growled hungrily, as if he couldn’t get enough.

He dug deeper into the pile of meat with his bare hands, ripping out some of the vital organs and forcing them into his still-full mouth.

Suddenly he stops. Slowly, the man turns his head. Slowly. So slowly, Musa swore time was just about to stop.

He turned his head just a bit more, his gaze meeting Musa’s. His grey, dull eyes were bloodshot, piercing through hers into her soul. His mouth was just open enough to reveal his teeth, smeared in blood and with small pieces of flesh stuck in between.

He wasn’t smiling, nor was he frowning. The man did not move, nor did he talk. He just stared at Musa was that crazy, eerie expression.

Musa was frozen. She felt goosebumps emerging all over her body. She felt so cold, yet at the same time, she was sweating like crazy.

She trembled lightly, starting to feel sick to her stomach. A strong feeling of nausea became present within her, and her muscles were tensing up to the point of slight cramping.

Her throat felt clogged, and she couldn’t make a sound. She couldn’t scream. Couldn’t even whimper.

Now it really felt like time had stopped, as neither of the two moved nor spoke. It was completely silent.

Just a few more moments passed, before Musa snapped out of her nerve-wrecking trance and started to back away.

As she did so, the man stood up. He slowly approached her, still wearing that insane look on his face.

“You… You shouldn’t be here…” he growled. His voice only awakened more fear in Musa, and she let out shallow, ragged breaths.

“This is no place for little fairies like you… now I’ll have to kill you too…” the man snarled, coming closer.

“No… get away..!”
Musa’s back hit the wall, and she panicked, looking around frantically. She crossed her hands in an attempt to transform, but her extreme fear blocked her magic-flow.

The man lunged at her, pulling on her shirt and dragging her across the shed. Musa screamed in response, trying to failing to get him off.

He pushed her onto the ground, right next to the bloody remains. Musa turned over and dig her nails into the ground, trying to pull herself away.

The man-eating attacker quickly bent down and harshly grabbed Musa by the hair, pulling on it and earning a pained yell.

He lifted her up and pushed her back down onto her back, but this time directly into the pile of human meat.

“NO! GET OFF! STOP! STOP!” Musa yelled repeatedly, feeling the red liquid soak through her clothes.

The man kneeled down above her, and roughly pushed down on her throat. Now Musa really felt helpless, unable to scream and struggling to breathe.

“Hh… s-sto—… H-h—!”

“Shh… I’ll be quick to finish the job… just stay still…” he whispered.

Musa looked for anything that would help her get out of this situation. She noticed the tools on the walls, but couldn’t grab them in this position. She just needed to…

The man yelled out, as he felt a jolting pain in his crotch. This caused him to let go of Musa just long enough to let her pull away and get up.

He noticed and growled, rushing to catch up to her.

She was about to grab a shovel, but rough hands yanked her down for a third time. She fell down face-first and groaned in pain.

She tried to push herself up with her hands, but suddenly felt a warm sensation in her leg. The warmth soon turned into pain, making it feel like her leg was burning all over.

Musa hisses in pain, her eyes prickling with tears.

“Fuck!”

She looks back, and sees the man hovering over her legs, one hand holding something… something attached to her leg. She looked closer.

A screwdriver.

Ah.

The crazy psycho had stabbed her leg with a screwdriver.

Musa panted, letting out pained whimpers. It hurt like crazy, but the music fairy didn’t have time to worry about that.

She tried to get up, but struggled to escape the tool jammed into her limb. The man growled, and harshly yanked the object out of her leg, to which Musa yelled out.

He quickly turned Musa onto her back and hovered over her, holding the screwdriver right above her face, while his other hand kept her pushed down. Musa tried to pry his hand off and escape, but struggled greatly.

“Y-you don’t have to— don’t have to d-do this!” Musa yelled out.

“You don’t understand, little girl…”

Musa looked around, once again looking for a way out. She turned her head to the right and saw something.

A mask.
A very familiar looking mask.
Lying on the ground.

She turned her head back to the crazy guy. The shadow striker.

“It’s you! Y-you’re the thief! And the killer! It’s you!”

His eyes widened in response, and he grabbed her jaw harshly.

“Shut up,” he held the screwdriver closer to her face. Blood was dripping from his mouth, right onto Musa.

The fairy’s breathing gradually became more erratic, and she kept thrashing around, desperate to get out.

“Let..— go—!” She choked out.

The man held the screwdriver right above her face. He lifted it lightly, ready to strike. Musa squeezed her eyes shut, awaiting impact.

“That’s enough, yeah. I think she gets it,” a strange, masculine voice spoke, the tone slightly playful, yet still serious.

“But… she saw me. She’ll—“

“Don’t worry about it. This is all part of the plan, ahah! All. part. of. my. amazing. plan~! Let her go,” the voice continued.

The killer sighed. “Of course. I’d be wrong to doubt you…”

A teasing chuckle was all Musa could hear, before she blacked out.

When Musa woke up again, she was alone. No signs of other living beings around.

The music fairy slowly sat up, only to hiss in pain. Her leg was still bleeding from being punctured by a screwdriver. Said screwdriver was on the ground, next to her.

Musa hugged her leg, trying to relieve some of the pain. She looked around, trying to remember the exact details of what happened. Unfortunately for her, she remembered in full detail.

She looking at her arms, her hands. Covered in blood. She could feel the substance all over herself.

“Fuck… no…” Musa laid her eyes upon the still-present corpse. The one the Shadow Striker had been eating from.

Musa covered her eyes with one hand, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Please… stop… don’t say t-that… that this happened…” she quietly muttered to herself. She moved over to the corner of the shed, leaning her head against the wall, sobbing.

“What the fuck..?! W-what the fuck..?”

Musa shook her head frantically, her breathing ragged. She trembled once again, feeling uncomfortable and afraid like never before.

Musa cautiously looked towards the door. It was now half-open. It looked like it was already turning dark.

How long had it been?

The musician managed to get up with the help of the walls, and she limped outside.

Once out, Musa tried to move as far away from the shed as possible. Her stomach gurgled, and the nausea returned. She swallowed and took deep breaths.

“Call… call help…”

The fairy dug into her pocket and pulled out her phone. Her shaking hands made it all the more difficult to manage the device, but after a few moments, she was finally calling someone.

“Pick up… pick up…”

“Musa? Where have you been?! We’ve been trying to reach you all day!” Bloom’s voice sounded through her phone. The dragon flame fairy sounded stern, with a hint of worry.

Musa suddenly couldn’t form any words. She just tried to take deep breaths, and hope for everything to go away.

“Musa, you totally ditched us all! The specialists were coming over and you just left! What is wrong with you?!” This time, Stella was speaking. She sounded rather irritated.

“Musa?”

Riven. The specialists were still there?

“Where are you? Why have you been ignoring me?”

Musa’s leg started throbbing in pain, and she carefully sat against a tree. She felt weak, stupid and disgusting. She left her friends, and look what happened!

She really was dumb, wasn’t she?

“Musa, will you answer? You can’t just call, then not say anything!” Bloom said, a bit angrier this time.

“Help…”

Musa’s voice came out as a mere whimper. A weak, pathetic whimper. Her throat hurt too much to form clear messages.

“What? Did you say something?”

“Help.. me…” Her voice sounded hoarse.

“Musa, what’s going on? Where are you?” Bloom asked, sounding a bit worried this time.

“I’m sorry… I-I shouldn’t have left… I hate this… please, c-can you help?”

“Musa, where are you?” It was Aisha this time.

“I-I don’t know… I don’t know… forest… shed…”

She could hear Tecna’s voice in the background.
“I’ll try and track the call.”

“Stay on the line, okay?” Bloom said.

“Okay…”

About what felt like an eternity later, Musa saw an airship landing a few yards from her. Out emerged her five fairy friends and her boyfriend.

Musa was still sitting against a tree, biting her nails anxiously. She was obviously still covered in blood, and her leg was not doing any better.

The others ran up to her.

“Oh my god, Musa! What happened?! Is that blood?!” Musa wasn’t focused enough to tell who asked that. She just sat, trembling and breathing raggedly, until she blacked out once again.

Chapter Text

Hello readers.

Sorry, this is not a chapter.

This is just a small A/N to promote my new Tumblr: musemythix.

There I’ll be posting small updates and similar stuff concerning this fic, so if you’re interested and blood-thirsty for new content (because I’m a bit slow when it comes to posting new chapters), feel free to follow me.

I’ll also happily take any advice or consider ideas for future chapters.

Also, I am working on chapter 6 now, so I’m counting on a few more days before release.

Thank you for reading!

Chapter Text

The man lunged at her, pulling her hair.

…

The man lunged at her, pushing her into the pile of blood and human remains.

…

The man lunged at her.

Musa shot upright in a cold sweat. She gasped for breath, her heart pumping the blood through her body at an almost alarming rate.

Upon catching her breath, Musa felt that she was sat on a soft surface. It felt safe, a bit rough, but safe nonetheless.

Although only slightly familiar.

She focused her sight and looked around. White curtains were positioned next to her on both sides. Musa looked down and around. She was sitting on a bed. It looked looked clean, decorated with plain white covers.

Everything smelled clean too. Very clean… but also a bit suffocating. Wouldn’t hurt to open a window.

That’s when Musa, after a few moments of regaining her senses, realized where she was.

Surprise! The Alfea infirmary.

Musa blinked and took note of the situation.

There was no one else in there, just her. It was quiet, aside from murmurs and hushed chatter coming from the hallways.

She figured Nurse Ophelia was probably on her break or something.

Images of that horrible event flashed through her mind, and she bit her lower lip trying to surpress them.

Musa decided to focus on getting up and out of the infirmary. She wanted to see someone, anyone. (Not the Shadow Striker, though)

Musa pulled the thin covers off, only to find herself dressed in a plain white gown, and her left leg wrapped in some bandages.

Right… The fucker had stabbed her there.

The injured fairy decided to try and ignore the obviously very-hard-to-ignore experience she had, and got up.

Standing up, she accidentally put too much weight on her injured leg, igniting a jolt of pain.

Musa hissed and bit her lower lip. Just then, she heard the door open.

“Musa!” It was Tecna. She had a mix of worry and relief on her face.

Musa instantly felt safe in the presence of her friend.

“Tec…”

Said fairy rushed over to Musa’s side. She sat down next to her injured friend and gently took her hands.

“Are you feeling alright? Do you need painkillers? Do you need a therapist?” The techno-fairy rambled on.

Musa chuckled a bit. Tecna, despite coming from a world of cold demeanors and less empathy, was really a worrywart.

“I’ll be alright. I’m glad everything’s… safe now.”

Tecna smiled and patted Musa’s shoulder, and then stood up.

“I’ll tell the others you’re awake,” the pinkette said, exiting the room.

A few minutes later, a chaotic mix of loud, worried voices and footsteps come from the hallway, in through the door and to Musa’s side.

All of her friends were there, concerned.

The next few minutes were spent answering their repeated questions about Musa’s wellbeing.

It was nice to be cared for.

Musa was taken back to her and Tecna’s room, her friends supporting her all the way (literally, Musa can’t walk).

All her friends were watching her. It was a bit awkward, but Musa understood their concerns.

They hadn’t yet asked about how Musa ended up in such a state, probably to give her some space and time to process things.

Musa appreciated that.

Musa laid down on her bed, grumbling a bit.

“I’m so tired…”

Flora chuckled softly.
“Makes sense. You should sleep a bit.”

“I guess…” Musa yawned.

Aisha turned off the lights and they all wished Musa a good rest, before quietly leaving the room.

Musa could hear them mumbling and talking behind the door, but she was too tired to make out what they were saying.

She slowly dozed off.

…

She woke up after just a few minutes. She was freezing, yet sweating at the same time.

Musa did not have a nightmare. She just got reminded of what she had witnessed.

It was difficult to comprehend. The thief the Winx had been chasing all over the dimension… was not just a thief. As if him being a murderer too wasn’t already shocking enough, he was a cannibalistic psycho too.

Musa tossed around in her bed.

She would have to tell her friends about it.

How do you tell your friends that the super powerful and dangerous enemy was even more super powerful and dangerous than everyone thought?

How would they defeat him?

And besides that, what was that second voice?

Yeah, Musa remembered hearing another voice that day in the shed. A masculine, amused, yet serious voice.

She couldn’t recall exactly what the voice had said, given she was kind of close to death at that moment.

All she knew, was that that voice saved her life… for whatever reason.

But who did it belong to? And why did it make the Shadow Striker spare her?

Musa pulled the covers up over her shoulders, and lowered her face towards her collarbone.

What a nightmare

“Why didn’t you let me kill her?”

The cloaked striker sat on the cold floor of an old house — one that was falling apart. The man was fidgeting with his shoelaces.

A chuckle. The Shadow Striker was approached by a new pair of feet. A tall figure, wearing a fancy suit in contrast to his wild and messy white hair. A wicked grin had found it’s home on the strange individual’s face.

“I have a specific vision; an idea for how things should be. Just trust me, and it’ll all make sense very soon.”

Chapter Text

So... I haven't been updating.

This is mainly because I am dissatisfied with my execution of the plot, villain introduction, characterization, basically everything.

The idea is there, but I think I will scrap my current progress and rewrite it into something better.

It will still be Musa-centric and gory, but with a better structure, if you know what I mean.

I will always try grasping that iconic Winx Club charm and try to include it.

Stay tuned!